Ian Cameron paid a spot visit to Kempton Park police station on Tuesday, highlighting a barren desk allocated for GBVF priority crime.
Picture: File / The Citizen
The Gauteng provincial government has listed the numbers behind its Ekurhuleni crime lockdown after criticism from a prominent parliamentarian.
Chairperson of the police portfolio committee Ian Cameron was in Ekurhuleni on Tuesday, where he conducted spot oversight visits at certain stations.
The policing district has been the centre of the gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) debate, following the successive discovery of multiple female murder victims.
President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation on Tuesday regarding GBVF, after which Cameron highlighted some flaws he had seen at the Kempton Park and Tembisa stations.
The provincial government responded with details of its lockdown, with Premier Panyaza Lesufi suggesting Cameron was grandstanding.
‘You have had years to act’
Cameron relayed that on Tuesday morning he had found a poorly illuminated Kempton Park police station with a desk dedicated to GBVF sitting barren.
“There was zero visible sign of that lockdown at station level in both Kempton Park and Tembisa. Even if they wanted to, they don’t have sufficient members,” stated Cameron.
Ramaphosa pledged a widespread change of attitude and approach to GBVF, saying that not enough had been done to protect women.
Cameron agreed, stating that policing shortcomings had been repeatedly highlighted by him and countless others.
“You are right, you didn’t even do the basics. You have had years to act, while women and children keep dying and specialised investigators remain under-resourced,” Cameron stated in response to Ramaphosa’s speech.
To demonstrate government’s misaligned priorities, Cameron pointed out that VIP protection for politicians had a budget of more than R2.4 billion, while specialised family violence and child protection policing received less than R1.7 billion annually.
“South Africa does not need another speech alone. We have heard too many, especially from you, and unfortunately very often, oversight is also ignored.
“We need detectives, vehicles, forensic capacity, proper victim support, and police stations that can keep the lights on,” stated Cameron, directing his comments at the president.
‘Trying to score political points’
The provincial government on Tuesday evening admitted that it was aware of the issues at Ekurhuleni’s police stations.
Listed by the government, these included infrastructure, equipment, staff constraints and lack of telephone lines.
“We acknowledge the resource challenges facing the station. Our aim was not to play to the gallery but to confront the challenges head-on with all national, provincial, and local stakeholders.
“In our session we had the policing forum, ward councillors, business and crime fighting activists who contributed to the potential solutions, rather than trying to score political points” stated Lesufi.
The provincial government listed the deployment, success and confiscation numbers associated with the recent lockdown.
Since 17 September, police have searched more than 30 000 individuals, vehicles, liquor outlets, and business premises.
Additionally, police patrolled 2 100 hotspots, visited schools and malls more than 1 000 times, and closed 13 spaza shops.
This had involved the deployment of more than 4 000 law enforcement officers from 25 different units and entities.
In Ekurhuleni alone, 469 people had been arrested, with undocumented foreigners accounting for 286 of those.
The next highest arrest-category successes were 39 for drunken driving, 34 for possession of drugs, and 13 for selling liquor without a licence.
Only one murder arrest was listed, along with four attempted murder arrests and 16 combined for common assault and grievous assault.
Police had also confiscated three firearms, three replica firearms, 623 litres of alcohol, and various quantities of multiple drugs.
“We must be honest about the challenges, but we must also be honest about the response. We welcome constructive oversight, but our focus must remain firmly on results,” Lesufi concluded.
